New Version of HTC Sense Revamps Lock Screen

HTC is prepared to reveal an updated version of its Sense user interface overlay in the coming days. According to AllThingsD, HTCs goal with the new Sense is to make some tasks easier and/or take less time to accomplish. First, HTC is changing how the lock screen works, which includes giving users the ability to jump to certain apps, such as email or the camera, directly from the lock screen. The lock screen can also be set to display users' photos or the weather without the need to fully unlock the device. Other changes cited by AllThingsD note that Sense will allow HTC phone users to silence calls by turning their phone over, and it will also make use of light sensors and ring louder when low light levels suggest that the phone might be in a pocket or purse. It can also take advantage of the accelerometer to quiet the phone once the device senses that it has been grabbed. Another tweak being made by HTC is to reduce the shutter lag so that people may take pictures faster. The HTC EVO 3D, headed to Sprint later this year, will be the first handset to have the latest version of Sense.

I thought the Touch Pro 2 already had many of these features, but I'm not sure if they were stock or cooked in by ROM makers.

Either way, it seems to me that Android continues to look like what I saw on Windows Mobile with SPB Mobile Shell, Cookies Home Tab, and other programs. It definitely seems like a developer/hacker's phone.

I hope that iOS and Windows Phone will open up a little more in the coming year.